1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a digital television (TV), and more particularly, to a method for displaying channel information on a TV screen so as to select a channel.
2. Description of the Related Art
An analog TV broadcasting system, an NTSC (National Television System Committee) broadcasting system for example, can broadcast only one program with respect to a frequency band of one determined RF (Radio Frequency) channel. On the other hand, a digital TV broadcasting system has more RF channels than the analog TV broadcasting system. In addition, it is possible to transmit a plurality of programs in a limited transmission bandwidth of one RF channel. For example, SDTV (Standard Definition Television) programs' such as analog TV broadcasting program's may be simultaneously broadcast for a specific period of time through an RF channel, and an HDTV (High Definition Television) program may be broadcast for another period of time through an RF channel. The U.S. ATSC (Advanced Television System Committee) standard shows such an example. A channel through which a plurality of programs are broadcast by one physical channel, that is, an RF channel, is called a “major channel”, and a channel of each program broadcast through such a major channel is called a “minor channel”.
Since the digital TV broadcasting system can broadcast a plurality of programs through one major channel, it is necessary to display program guide information on a TV screen so that a user may select one of these programs. For this, the ATSC standard specifies an electronic program guide (EPG) to enable the user to select a desired program. A broadcasting station transmits EPG information with respect to each RF channel. The digital TV then receives and stores the EPG information and displays the EPG information on its screen in response to a demand from the user.
The user can be aware of the number of programs broadcast through one major channel by using the EPG information. For this, however, the user should additionally demand to display the EPG information. In the case where the user directly enters a channel number to select any one major channel, it is inconvenient to see if how many programs are broadcast through the selected major channel or to select a program, in comparison with the analog TV broadcasting system. Furthermore, the user may feel confusion in selecting a channel because a broadcasting station broadcasts analog and digital TV broadcasting programs at the same time. Therefore, the digital TV broadcasting system should enable the user to easily be aware of the number of programs broadcast through a selected major channel and to easily select programs. However, in an analog TV, only RF channels can be selected by using a remote control. That is, in a conventional channel selecting method, it is impossible to select a minor channel corresponding to a desired program among a plurality of minor channels broadcast through one major channel in digital TV broadcasting.